Tuesday, January 16, 2018

12 Pics and Some Thoughts on 2017

January



February




March



April



May



June



July




August



September



October



November



December



2017 was quite a year. 

We were blessed to happily introduce sweet little C

We tearfully said goodbye to some amazing neighbors

We have had more medical expenses this year than I care to talk about. 


Lee slept on the floor of an aquarium and had a super fun birthday party. 

I went to China and learned how to use a sewing machine

We got a Transitasaurs

We have made some great memories making snow cream and making s'mores

The big girls and I cut off a ton of hair

E swam a 500

R started Kindergarten

M scored a million goals

A rolled in the dirt


2017 has been a heck of a ride hopefully 2018 will stand up to the challenge. 


Saturday, January 13, 2018

7QTs - Snow, Christmas and Advent

Linking up with Kelly and co... Going from newest to oldest...

---1---

My snowy bear


The snow is gone... We had our fun but it was up to 70 today and is headed back into the 30s tomorrow : ( 

---2---

M reminds me so much of E in so many ways and putting together puzzles is one of them...


50 piece puzzle for the 4 yr old in the books... except E just would have done it and moved on. M wants me to see it and know if she gets extra dessert because she did something good. riiiiiiight!


---3---

C is FINALLY on team bottle... 


Which is insanely helpful because I have a quick work trip that she is not privileged to. More on that later 

---4---

All the Christmas presents have been absorbed for the most part...


I haven't tried out my new goggles yet but I did manage a trip to the elliptical this week which was great


Working on Christmas Thank You notes... I still need to get a few out!


The tree is still up. I think A is really going to miss it. He keeps on saying lite treeeeee. lite treeeeeee. I cannot find his baby ornament which is of some concern so maybe it will turn up in clean up?


---5---

These 2 were ready to go back to school.


They were totally at each other's necks the last week of break and nit picking (now that I know that actually has to do with lice) each other and just generally being really an

---6---

A-isms of recent... 

He will grab the stool from the bathroom and attempt to get involved with whatever is going on


He rarely gets dessert these days because he doesn't eat much dinner unless it is steak or ham but when he does he loves it

He looks really cute in this hat

His hair can get really wild with static

He LOVES going with Papa in the truck. He saw E and Papa go to swim practice and fitfully watched them leave because he didn't get the nod to go too


---7---

Just to round out the Advent season a few weeks late...



We did make it to the graveyards to pray on 12/23... nothing like the late minute


And we continued the neighborhood tradition of passing out Christmas goodies and added a note with a plea for people in our neighborhood to SLOW THE HECK DOWN ... I'll keep you posted on that progress

Monday, January 8, 2018

Snow-cation 2018

2018 started off with an Elsa-like icy blast... 


We got 4-6 inches of snow the evening of the 3rd 


It was a puffy, powdery snow that fell really quickly and stuck almost immediately because it had been so cold. 


It did not make for the best sledding times because we really need more icy snow to stand up to the hard South sun that our sledding hills gets everyday


This guy was in his element. Outside with an unlimited food source at his finger tips - and warm finger tips. On Monday I ordered him snow mittens because the snow wouldn't be here until Thursday. Well Amazon let us down and the gloves did not get here on Wednesday as I expected so when I realized that I placed an emergency call and waterproof mittens from Target arrived via his Fairy Snowmother. It was either that or shlep all the kids into Target with arctic blast apparel, search for mitten and herd everyone out. You know how much fun it is getting kids in and out of carseats and putting coats on and praying the toddler has kept his shoes and socks on and zipping up coats and lugging the infant bucket and all that jazz. Just send Lee right? Wrong. See below. 


I learned a lesson about those built in mitten things on the coats they got. You have to put the gloves on AFTER the coat. Not before. This is opposite how I did it growing up and I almost lost all my cool the first day before I figured this out. 


Friends enjoying the snow! This is them last year


With good sledding kind of out of the picture the kids took to slopes in the yard and rode those. E braved the snow twice on the first day and went to the frozen swamp with the neighbors and had the biggest time. 


Frozen chariot 


Frozen house


I don't know which is more work getting the kids dressed or getting their stuff dried for the next trip out. 


C was put in bed as the big kids were getting ready to go out the first time because I was about to lose it trying to stuff hands in gloves and feet in snow boots. 


But A and I suited C up and took her out for a ride on the sled. 


Then we replaced C in the warmth of the house and we set out on our second jaunt in the snow for the day. A was desperate to be out in the snnnnoooo. He would put the softest s on snow it was cute. He's going to miss it the most. 


Snow babies


Then it was time for..... Cookies and Snow cream


Trying Snow cream for the first time


Eating a raisin-free oatmeal cookie Papa made just for her


Yum 


We didn't have a lot of ingredients (as in running low on oatmeal and zero baking soda) so my brilliant neighbor suggested I search baking soda free oatmeal raisin cookies and imagine that, there were a zillion recipes that popped up. 


This guy held down the inside fort during the snow. The chef, the baker, the hot chocolate maker. The C watcher. Thursday was supposed to be his day off because Tuesday he poured 20 yards of concrete and 28 on Wednesday - he was a tad bit sore. Honestly I was just glad to have him back home because Wednesday afternoon I wasn't sure he was going to make it back before the roads got bad with snow. He called just after 8 and said he was on his way home. At 9:25 he rolled into the yard and brought the snow with him. 


Obligatory all kids in the snow picture


Winter Wonderland - and man was it cold. It was in the single digits most mornings and warmed up to the upper 20s 


Me and C deep in thought over the snow


A's rosy cheeks from his snow consuming adventures. I'll post a pic of that later because I took that on Lee's phone. 

Friday I had to go to work in the afternoon. The county roads were not great but once I made it to the city they were fine. I picked up dinner and then headed home for in-house Theophany vespers. Saturday everyone was going snow crazy so I convinced Lee we could all use a little time out of the house so he went to the gym while I took the kids swimming and it true fashion they stayed in the pool about double the time it took to get changed into bathing suits. Whatever. We came home to a yummy pot of chili and settled in for some football and a King Cake thanks to some friends who braved the snowy roads. Sunday we made it to the later church service since there is still a good amount of snowy ice on out neighborhood hill (not the sledding one). After church they (not me) went out for one last play in the snow. Lee and I had a peaceful hour or so that involved cleaning up more Christmas presents (yes they are now finally put away), folding laundry and watching football. I told them whoever stayed out the longest would get the most snow cream so they were huddled in the garage waiting each other out but finally they all came in at the same time when hot chocolate was served. 

With a two hour delay today I imagine our snow days are over for this round. We'll see if we end up with more. We're supposed to hit the mid 60s toward the end of the week so we'll see if that holds true.